Not Enough Teachers at East Gadsden High School

Posted: Tue 6:07 PM, Aug 12, 2003&nbsp|&nbsp

Updated: Tue 6:07 PM, Aug 12, 2003

East Gadsden High School doesn’t have enough teachers for all the students. One option was to fill those teaching positions with whomever they could find before school started. The superintendent and the principal of the school decided not to do that, and they say students will benefit as a result.

Tuesday was the second day of classes at the new East Gadsden High School, but already parents are concerned about a shortage of teachers. The Gadsden County School Board admits there are nine vacancies, but they say for good reason.

"We're glad to have a problem of more students than we anticipated and we're still trying to recruit more teachers,” says Misty Cash, of the Gadsden County School Board.

"We were anticipating 1,250 students but we may have more than 1300, when it's all said and done, so we are recruiting more teachers,” says Sterling DuPont, superintendent.

The principal of the school says the nine vacancies are for the subjects of math, English and science.

"We're recruiting as hard as we can. We have teachers lined up in place.”

But with the new high school growing already, nine new teachers may not be enough. Bottom line, principal Chalmus Thomas says there was a decision to not hire sub-par teachers by the first day. Instead, administrators decided to wait for the best of the best because the students are worth it.

There is also some important news about Shanks Tuesday. An appeal of an "F" grade for the second year in a row at Shanks was upgraded to a "D" on appeal. And because Shanks no longer exists, East Gadsden administrators are waiting to find out what that means for them.

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